Section 6.4. Books | iPhone: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition

6.4. Books

Books for sale on the Web aren't hard to findand neither are reviews of them. If you waste your money on a dog of a book these days, it's your own darned fault.

6.4.1. Amazon and B&N

The two biggest online bookstores are, of course, Amazon (www.amazon.com) and Barnes & Noble (www. barnesandnoble .com). These companies list, for each book, all the usual details like price, page count, author name , and publisher's praise for its own book.

Far more valuable , though, are the reader reviews: writeups from people who have already read the books and have come to warn you away (or confirm your good taste).

You should know that not every review is impartial. The reviews may be padded by entries from the author's friends (or enemies), and even from paid reviewers. Fortunately, if there's a reasonable quantity of reviews, the good and bad books still float to the top or sink to the bottom.

6.4.2. The New York Times Book Review

The New York Times has published a Books section for more than a century, and its Best Seller List is still the measure of literary success. Some people used to subscribe to the paper just for the Sunday Book Reviewbut now you don't have to. You can read all current book reviews (both Sunday and daily) at www.nytimes.com/books with a free registration. On the Books section of the site, you can read all fiction , nonfiction, and children's book reviews and search all reviews published since 1996. The site also posts the entire first chapters of many currently reviewed books and hosts an online book club.

6.4.3. The New York Review of Books

The New York Review of Books not to be confused with the New York Times Book Reviewcelebrates the art of the long-form review. A good percentage of them are available online for free at www.nybooks.com. (Twenty bucks gets you a year's worth of access to all the New York Review 's articles, if you're a subscriber to the print publication; everyone else pays $66.) Its scholarly essays touch upon issues affecting contemporary society, including the present state of politics and culture.

Tip: If the publishing industry fascinates you, visit Moby Lives for the latest headlines from the book biz (www.mobylives.com). This literary blog also has a regular podcast of current author interviews.